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When you’re in a car accident, or any other kind of accident, a lot of thoughts run through your mind in the immediate aftermath and even for months afterward. Was it your fault? If not, whose fault was it? Was it no one’s fault? Was it just an accident? Should you really have to pay all these bills? Should you really have to struggle for months, years, or a whole lifetime with these injuries? Should you really have to find a way to make money without any help because this was all just an accident?

It’s important to note, upfront, that sometimes, the injured person was at fault. And sometimes, it really is just an accident and no one can be held accountable. However, it is at least as likely that someone else made a mistake, acted negligently, or otherwise behaved or acted in a way to put you in this position. If that’s the case, then it wasn’t just an accident, it was an accident that should lead to an accident claim.

You need to know the difference so you can either try to move on or else concentrate your effort on finding a lawyer to help you pursue a claim against those who are responsible. If someone else was at fault, there’s no reason you should be the one suffering and struggling. You deserve help, and you are entitled to it.

But you need to know whether your accident qualifies before you can do anything else. Thankfully, Glover Law Firm has a very helpful definition to simplify this. According to their site, the difference all comes down to “negligent conduct.” If another party has acted negligently, then you have a right to compensation.

What does negligence look like? It can take many forms. It may be as simple as someone forgetting to clean up the electrical cords that are covering a walkway. It may mean someone didn’t repair a handrail on the stairs. It may also be a truck driver who has been drinking and so causes an accident on the highway. Or, it can be the doctor who makes the wrong diagnosis or orders the wrong test.

As you can see, the indicator here isn’t so much in what happens but in how it happens. You have the right to expect others to behave in a way that best keeps you safe. After all, you do that for others all the time. You stop at stop signs. You don’t intentionally give bad advice that can lead to harm. You take care of those who need caring, like your child or elderly parent. When someone fails to live up to this basic requirement, they can be held at fault for your accident.

Once you know that, all you have to do is consider whether your accident involved someone who made the choice (with or without knowledge) to disregard your safety. Answer that question, and you know whether you have a case.

The decision to go to a lawyer can be a difficult one for many reasons. First of all, it’s an intimidating prospect, no matter your current situation. The idea of contacting a lawyer brings to mind large legal fees, long months and years of arbitration, complicated terms that go over your head, and lawyers who don’t care that much about the outcome as long as they make their money.

None of that is necessarily completely untrue, but much of it is not necessarily true, either. For instance, many lawyers only earn fees when they win a case. They then take a portion of the settlement. And many lawyers do honestly care about helping their clients and make every effort to simplify what is happening so their clients can keep up.

Even if you overcome your intimidation, though, there’s still the issue of choosing a lawyer. Who is best? Is it the expensive lawyer with upfront fees or the pro bono lawyer? And which pro bono lawyer? In many cities, there could be hundreds of law firms to choose from.

There’s no easy answer to any of these questions, but there is an easier answer to the very primary question you have to ask: do you need a lawyer?

For that, all you have to do is consider whether you’ve been aggrieved in some way and whether that is because of the actions or someone (or something, like a corporation).

Take for instance car accidents. If you are likely to incur costs for medical bills, therapy, lost wages, and if you are likely to suffer from diminished earnings and pain due to an accident that wasn’t your fault, you should probably be looking for a lawyer.

Using a lawyer can lead to about three times as much compensation as going without one, which makes the case for contacting a lawyer much stronger.

As for which lawyer to choose, once you’ve settled upon choosing a lawyer in the first place, there are a few tactics you can try. First, ask around for recommendations (and for warnings) about the lawyers in your area. If you know someone who was in a serious car accident, for instance, ask if they got a lawyer or researched lawyers.

Beyond that, consider the online recommendations and the record of each law firm. If a firm has a long history of big court victories, and their online reviews are positive, they may be worth contacting to at least hear out what they can do for you.

Finally, many law firms will give you a free initial consultation. So, you are losing nothing but time by going to one with a good reputation and seeing if they are the right fit for you. Just as you have to do a little trial and error to find the right doctor, you may have to visit a few lawyers before you find the one you feel has the skills to fight for you.

The brain is one of the most important parts of the body, and that is why it is enclosed and protected by the skull. But it is important to point out that the brain can still be damaged. This can happen in various ways, like when a person has been hit in the head, has hit his head on a surface, or has made a back and forth motion that makes the brain shake and slam onto the skull wall.

One of the most underrated causes of concussion is recreational activities such as sports, particularly those that are known to be “violent” like basketball and football. For this reason, those who engage in sports should take extra measures to ensure their safety from such brain injuries.

Follow the rules

Sports rules are there to limit what you can do on the playing ground. Though this can arguably affect competitiveness, it can also reduce the risk of brain injuries. For example, the NBA has a concussion protocol that needs to be followed if a player has received significant force to the head, shown signs of concussion, or both. This ensures immediate diagnosis and treatment.

Wear the right gears

Some sports just involve collisions, and that can put you at risk of concussions. To somehow offset this inherent risk, you can wear helmets and other gears that can protect your head from sustaining shock. There are various manufacturers out there who are trying to improve the design and material of their helmets, to ensure that they are performing at their finest.

Don’t force yourself

If you already feel banged up and immediately experience symptoms, such as dizziness, ringing in the ears, and headaches, you should inform your coach and team staff as soon as possible. However, according to the website of Lawyer Ali Mokaram, there are instances where NFL coaches still encourage players to play even if they are already not feeling so well. This can worsen your problems. So, you should learn how to say no, because your health is more important than a game.

Avoid unnecessary aggression

You are passionate about your sport and you want to win the game. That is understandable. But you should also know your physical limits. If you exert force that is more than necessary, you may be putting not just yourself more at risk, but also the other players around you.

Learn to control your power during the game, to avoid unnecessary aggression. This behavior can also lead to poor sportsmanship, which defeats the very purpose of playing.

Threats to Pedestrian Safety

Car accidents, more often than not, are due to the negligent or reckless behavior of drivers, making these totally preventable incidents. Thus, if a driver fails to observe safety traffic rules, such as fail to respect traffic signal lights, drive recklessly, drive while intoxicated or allow distraction to get the better of him/her while behind the wheel, then him/her colliding with another motor vehicle, or hitting a bicyclist or a pedestrian is not a remote possibility.

The concerted efforts of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and car manufacturers have led to the research, design, manufacture and installation of the latest devices that will make the streets safer for all motorists and, most especially, pedestrians. These devices, aptly called accident avoidance technologies, are designed to keep drivers from crashing into anything or anyone.

As a result, there are cars now installed with two of the latest accident avoidance devices, namely, the Pedestrian and Cyclist Detection with Full Auto Brake and the Forward Collision Warning System. While these devices enable the full activation of a car’s brakes even without driver input, there are other safety devices that can only slow down a vehicle (to reduce the force of impact), still leaving to the driver the need to bring his/her vehicle to a full stop.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), 4,884 people were killed in pedestrian accidents in 2014 (these accidents involved pedestrian and motor vehicles), while the numbered of those injured was 65,000.

Latest road safety reports, unfortunately, show that cars are no longer the only threat to pedestrians. Every year, based on a study using hospital coding data, about 1,000 pedestrians are hit, not by cars, but by bicyclist – accidents resulting to injuries that necessitate medical treatment in a hospital. Some injuries, however, lead to death, like in the case of a 75-year-old teacher who was struck by a 17-year old bicyclist as he swerved into the running lane to avoid something. Due to the injuries he sustained, the 75-year old man died two days after the accident; the accident occurred in Central Park one afternoon in August 2014.

Kankakee car accident attorneys say, “Pedestrian accidents can result in anything from minor scrapes and bruises to the death of an accident victim. Some of the most common injuries that result from pedestrian accidents include: broken bones, head trauma, disfigurement, skin abrasions or burns, internal bleeding, or contusions and bruises.

You should be able to feel safe when you set out to cross the street, walk to your car in a parking lot, or send your children to school. When someone else takes that security away by hitting you or a loved one with a car (or even a bicycle), the consequences are often irreversible, and it is important that the responsible party is brought to justice for his/her actions.”

Car accidents happen for various reasons and in various locations. Some locations, however, are more susceptible to auto accidents.

One of the most common places for accidents is a parking lot. The primary reason for parking lot accidents is speeding. Many drivers fail to abide by parking lot speed limits and end up causing an accident. Parking lot crashes occur frequently also because drivers tend to get confused about the right-of-way rules. Lastly, the addition of pedestrians complicates matters and often creates distractions for drivers.

Large metropolitan areas are not only notorious for heavy traffic, but car accidents as well. These population-dense areas are located directly in the cross-hairs of major highways and drivers tend to be reckless and negligent. Heavy traffic creates frustration, which leads to aggressive driving and accidents. Large cities such as New York and Los Angeles are also areas of heavy commuting. Many commuters use this time behind the wheel to multitask – often eating, reading the paper, or putting on makeup. These distracted drivers are more likely to cause an accident. Commuters are also often tired, whether driving early in the morning on the way to work or on the way home after a long day at the office.

Perhaps the most surprising area where car accidents often occur is close to home. A 2004 study revealed that about 52% of accidents occur within 5 miles from a person’s home. This is because drivers tend to feel a sense of relaxation as they approach their neighborhood. The relaxation comes the autopilot effect that people experience when driving in an area that they are very familiar with.

Sexual abuse happens when someone, like a medical employee in a nursing home, initiates physical or sexual contact with another without his or her consent. Most of the time, abusers do this because they know they can get away with it. But they shouldn’t, and you can help protect your vulnerable loved one in a nursing home by understanding the nature of sexual abuse.

Elders are physically and mentally limited, so they don’t have the capability to resist sexual abuse. There are also instances that the abuse has already taken a toll on them, so they could not communicate their situation out of anxiety and fear. These frailties make the elderly population the perfect target for sexual abuse.

We can even narrow down the perfect target. It is fair to say that women are generally considered to be physically weaker than men. That also means that they have less capability to defend themselves once sexual abusers make their moves. This makes elderly women more vulnerable to sexual abuse compared to elderly men.

Aside from that, we should also look into the credibility of sexual abuse accusations. It means that the more mentally impared a person is, the more vulnerable this person becomes to sexual abuse. They are the perfect targets because even if they communicate their situation to others, their accusations may not be considered credible because of their mental condition. There are well-documented cases of elderly women with dementia, Alzheimer’s, and other forms of memory impairment suffering from sexual abuse in nursing homes.

The best way to fight sexual abuse in nursing homes is by knowing the signs of it. According to the website of Karlin, Fleisher & Falkenberg, LLC, your loved one may be a victim of sexual abuse if he or she has injuries in the pelvic area, trouble sitting, standing, and walking, newly discovered sexually transmitted diseases, or sudden changes in behavior.

If your loved one is showing at least one of these, especially if she is an elderly woman who is mentally impaired, be suspicious.

A research conducted in 2007 revealed to a number of psychologists that hypnosis can significantly reduce the pain felt by burn victims during debridement of wounds (debridement is the removal of dead, devitalized, contaminated tissue, and any other foreign material from a wound which inhibit healing. In 2009, another psychology expert, who has conducted extensive research on hypnosis and pain management, found out that hypnosis, combined with cognitive-behavioral therapy, could reduce the fatigue felt by breast cancer patients while undergoing radiation therapy.

So many other studies show that hypnosis is an effective tool in reducing pain. In fact, even during the Civil War, army surgeons already used hypnosis on injured soldiers to control pain during amputations.

Both the American Psychological Association (APA) and the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis affirm that hypnosis really does help in treating a wide range of conditions, including pain, anxiety, phobias and depression. More than these, however, hypnosis, also called hypnotherapy, has been found to be a valuable tool in providing solution to so many concerns, like chronic pain, self-confidence, anger, stress, worry, public speaking, sexual problems, gambling, smoking, obesity, study habits, hopelessness, panic attacks, negative feelings, self-control, hypertension, alcohol abuse, and drug dependence, to name just a few.

Hypnosis can be used to make positive changes in a person’s life; however, for it to be effective, the person to be hypnotized should have firm determination to change, otherwise, he/she will only definitely fail and go back to his/her old ways.

During hypnosis, a person will feel deeply relaxed; his/her subconscious also becomes fully awake and aware, while his/her conscious state fades back. While in this relaxed trance, it would also be easy to give him/her ideas or suggestions which he/she would easily believe – ideas such as alcohol, cigarette and drugs are bad and will only make him/her physically ill. These suggestions will be retained in his/her subconscious level, resulting to a change in behavior after he/she is brought out of the relaxed trance. Hypnosis, clearly, is not about a therapist controlling the mind of a patient; it is rather a patient being taught and learning how to control himself/herself and his/her actions more effectively. Anyone can choose to have hypnosis as treatment, except those who do not want to be hypnotized, those who are drunk or stoned, and those who have below average IQ.

When divorces involve custody disputes, the stakes are high – ABC News discusses how one wrong decision and a child can end up in the hands of an abuser, or an otherwise loving and responsible parent can be seen as an unfit and delinquent provider. It is therefore up to the family court judge to decide what is best for the child and the divorcing parents – these judges essentially have childrens’ fate in their hands.

“Parental alienation” is the notion that one parent can plant a child with ideas that would then make the child turn away from the other parent, even if said ideas are untrue or uncalled for. According to Fort Worth child custody attorneys of The Maynard Law Firm, these behaviors are often seen in high-conflict marriages, or in divorcing or separating parents.

Dr. Richard Warshak, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center clinical professor of psychiatry and author of the book titled Divorce Poison, said this can cause irreparable damage to the bond and relationship of the child and the other parent, with “hear[ing] a steady drumbeat about a parent’s flaws and lies that portray the parent as unloving and unworthy of love”.

The acceptance of parental alienation in some family law courts has received criticism and outrage in some sectors.

Washington, D.C.-based George Washington University law professor Joan Meiers said that with the prevalence of parental alienation instances, some judges are not inclined to believe that a child has been abused, instead believing that the child was coerced by one parent to lie about the other parent.

The medical community is also interested in this topic, with New York City, New York-based Columbia University professor of psychiatry Paul Appelbaum, who is also an American Psychiatric Association former president, saying, “We ought to be careful about throwing around terms [like parental alienation] that carry such strong pejorative connotations, especially when the consequences can change a child’s life forever.”

Elderly people often require as much care and consideration as small kids but are considerably harder to control since they are frequently set in their own ways and determined to have it. In assisted living facilities, however, a good percentage of the occupiers are infirm, necessitating aid to move about, or bedfast. Some who are not physically unfit may be suffering from mental issues, making them equally incapable of looking after themselves. These are the individuals who are in most need of continuous health-related care, which is the reason why they may be positioned in nursing homes. Regrettably, they do not always get it.

According to the website of an Indianapolis personal injury attorney, abuse happens in approximately one-third of nursing homes in the US, and one form of abuse is nursing home neglect. It may be thanks to incompetence employees shortage or just negligence. Regardless of the cause, the nursing home staff commonly neglects to maintain residents clean, fed, and medicated regularly. Their health can be further compromised by such episodes because most aged inhabitants have been in weak physical condition.

An additional complication is bed sores, also called pressure ulcers, that are caused by the failure to regularly change the position of the occupier, although these all may also occur for the bedfast. Normally, a bed sore develops when the bone tissues continuously press on the soft tissue, restricting the blood circulation. Bed sores can result in more severe health issues and also a lot of pain, and eventually passing, if remaining untreated.

It is possible to record it to the proper authorities to start an investigation if you suspect nursing home negligence of a close friend or relative. In the meantime, you may also not be unable to get pain and suffering as well as repayment for the medical costs of your elderly relative.

When Zofran was approved in 1992 by the FDA, the drug was originally prescribed to patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiation to prevent nausea and vomiting. By blocking the body’s natural substance serotonin which causes vomiting, the medication was able to help cancer patients. As doctors discovered how well Zofran worked, it wasn’t long before they began prescribing the drug to other patients who were not undergoing cancer treatment. According to the website of Williams Kherkher, even though it was not approved for such use, Zofran began being prescribed to pregnant women who suffered from extreme morning sickness. Sadly, it wasn’t until more than 20 years later that doctors began noticing a link between birth defects and taking Zofran during pregnancy.

In 2012, a study published by the Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention found that taking Zofran during pregnancy doubled a child’s risk for developing a cleft palate or cleft lip. Further studies even found the drug could cause congenital heart defects. Unfortunately, many women had already taken the drug, causing their child suffering from one or more of these medical conditions as a result. Even after these studies found the danger of the drug, doctors continued to prescribe the drug off label to pregnant women. The medical conditions caused by an unborn fetus being exposed to Zofran can be lifelong and cause serious emotional trauma. Recently, the company who makes the drug, GlaxoSmithKline, paid out $2 billion dollars for falsely marketing the drug as a treatment for morning sickness in pregnant women.

Zofran, while a viable option for cancer patients, can cause devastating medical conditions in newborns. Without the proper warnings from the company who made the drug, pregnant women and their children were left to suffer as a result of improperly being prescribed the drug. Despite the payout from GSK and an official warning for pregnant women about the drug in 2013, the suffering caused by Zofran continues.